FOODS THAT ARE BANNED (but NOT in the U.S.) 1
- Aly Austin
- Jul 11
- 8 min read
How much $$ is your health worth?
Do you reside in the U.S.? Have you ever traveled abroad and found it quaint to go through their grocers and see all of the different brands? Have you ever recognized some brands and searched for that favorite something, only to discover not only do they not carry it, but it has been banned throughout all of Europe, China, Brazil, Japan? WHAT? Banned?? Wait. What am I eating?
It is astounding to me the level to which our government will stoop to make a dime, or trillions in annual revenues to be exact. Big Food, Big Oil, Big Pharma, Big Tobacco (which evolved into Big Food in the late 80s) ...see the pattern? The Big Food Industry is just another cog in the machine of our country.
Foods with known harmful known toxins are available to us on grocery shelves, and at this rate, there aren't many clean options to choose from. As of late, some of the larger companies are putting out 'natural' versions of their flagship items, which doesn't mean much since the USDA and the FDA have loosened regulations on term usage when labeling items for sale. See my blog post on Mislabeling for more info there.
I buy groceries, feed myself and my family, end up with chronic inflammation and leaky gut, causing me to go to numerous Western doctors to find out what's wrong. They write numerous prescriptions each time I go, none of which will help do anything but mask the problem because I keep eating the food available to me - why would I think it is toxic?? Eventually with age I develop a few diseases that may have occurred naturally but are surely exacerbated with decades of poison, inflammation, and no way of absorbing nutrients. Now I am being 'treated' for big issues such as congestive heart failure, autoimmune issues, even dementia. Big Food = paid. Big Healthcare = paid. Big Pharma = paid. Our Medicare Medicaid system = cycled as expected. The general public? Living shitty lives feeling like we don't get enough sleep and barely have the energy to get to that store to buy more poison.
Here are some banned foods that are still available to us in the U.S., the reasons why they are banned, and what those reasons are capable of doing to our bodies. Hold on tight, and don't go all Molotov cocktail on the nearest chain grocery. Instead, buy unprocessed whole foods and lean proteins instead. Stay out of the middle aisles. Be smart and educate yourself. Don't put better gas in your car than food you put in your body.
ARTIFICIAL FOOD COLORING / DYES
Food coloring and artificial dyes is added to an incredible number of foods; it is hard to find foods without any. With the changes being played out for us all in the media, we are aware Big Food has been making very heroic notifications of their elimination of artificial dyes in some foods. Skittles took a hit with the banning of Red No 3 in 2023 in California, and it doesn't take long to see that M&Ms and FruitLoops cereal along with a vast number of other 'food' items are strong proponents of artificial dyes ... are you noticing yet that these are foods strongly marketed to children?
Take highly processed foods off the table, literally. What about what most people consider "real food"? No way these are at risk, right? WRONG. The peels of oranges are dyed with Citrus Red No 2 so that they look 'like an orange' and are more uniform in the stores. While wild-caught salmon has that beautiful 'salmon' coloring, farmed salmon does not, and smoked salmon more often than not has been injected with artificial dyes to give rise to that color we are hunting. Baseball park sausages aren't baseball park red for no reason. Microwave popcorn? How could they mess with popcorn? Look closely at the ingredient list for "Yellow 5 and 6" or "artificial color".
We realize the big deal right now is the banning of Red No 3 but ask yourself, how long will I keep eating the rest before they're banned?
CHLORINE-TREATED CHICKEN
What in the actual hell. Yes. In the U.S., chicken producers (maybe not all of them?) clean the chicken with chlorine bleach in order to rid the meat of bacteria to prevent food-borne illnesses (and lawsuits). Let's pretend we don't mind eating chlorine bleach and are less concerned with our own well-being than that of the Earth. Do you think it is an amazing practice to dump bleach over dead bodies, allowing it all to just soak into the ground? Where is this run-off headed when (if) these slaughterhouses are cleaned? Into our water supply? And just like that, we're right back to our own well-being being sacrificed for Big Food revenues.
PORK & RACTOPAMINE
Ractopamine is a drug (beta-agonist) used in the U.S. meat industry as a feed additive, mainly on port production to produce a leaner protein more quickly than with natural growth.
"Ractopamine is fed to market animals intended for slaughter, and is not approved for breeding animals. Paylean® is fed to swine during the final 20-40 days, Optaflexx® is fed to cattle during the last 28-42 days, and Topmax® was fed to turkeys during the final 7-14 days. Ractopamine mimics stress hormones and increases the rate at which feed is converted to muscle. It essentially redirects nutrients away from fat deposition to muscle deposition" - vet.OSU
If you don't see how concerning this is, I'm not sure if I care to exert myself. More than 160 out of 196 countries have banned this practice. Look for ractopamine on protein labels as an "active ingredient". Active. That is interesting, yes?
Ractopamine is not just used on pigs. It also can be found in the 'harvesting' of other animals bred solely for slaughter and consumption, not for breeding.
How many other ways are there for our government to earn while we all burn?
PINK SLIME
Well. The return of the pink slime. Pink slime originally was coined "lean, finely textured beef" and was an additive placed in ground beef to reduce consumer costs. This pink slime is created by mixing ammonia hydroxide with "beef scraps" (whatever those may be) and is again being used and per the USDA allowing it to be named "ground beef" on packaging.
Ammonia, anyone?
Let's pretend ground beef doesn't make anyone nauseas when trying to cook it and make it look like "ground - beef" instead of pink mashed potatoes. Now you know why it is what it is. Wanna spend more money on grass-fed ammonia? See my other blog post on mislabeling and head on over to the "Grass-fed" section.
VEGETABLE OIL & BVO
BVO is brominated vegetable oil, whose main compound is bromine, and can be found in drinks. Yup. Drinks, and we all drink things. Bromine has been found to cause reproductive and brain function issues, linked specifically to neurological damage and can impair thyroid health. Europe and Japan have both banned any ingestible items containing this compound, but not the U.S., but was to be banned in U.S. in August of 2024 "although in the U.S. it has been "historically allowed with restriction", whatever that entails. Citrus-flavored drinks were the main offenders.
Keep your eyes wide open and your mouths closed until scrutinizing the ingredient list for "brominated vegetable oil". Mountain Dew was a main offender.
DAIRY & rBST
Recombinant bovine somatotropin (rBST) is a synthetic bovine hormone. Dairy cows aren't producing milk fast enough for everyone, so we're going to go ahead and make them. By injecting them with a synthetic hormone to make them do more.
"For those concerned with long-term antibiotic resistance in humans AND the inhumane practice of dairy farms and factory farming in general: Another health concern has been that cows treated with rBGH tend to develop more udder infections (mastitis). These cows are given more antibiotics compared to cows not given rBGH. Whether this increased use of antibiotics leads to more antibiotic-resistant bacteria remains a concern, but it has not been fully studied in humans" - American Cancer Society
If you want to learn more about Big Dairy and where your milk is ACTUALLY coming from,
BREAD & POTASSIUM BROMIDE
Potassium bromide (KBrO3) is known as a carcinogen and is used in bread dough to strengthen it and have a higher rise in the oven. Commercially, it is simply used as a dough improver, though Europe, the UK, Canada, and Brazil have all set ban requirements on this 'ingredient'. Not the U.S.
Click the informatics below for a very interesting read:
"EWG has identified over 200 products that contain potassium bromate, including Gomez flour tortillas, Hy Vee blueberry crisp and Hanover baked sourdough soft pretzels, among others. The use of this additive in the U.S. is widespread and legal, even though it’s been banned in other countries because of health concerns" - EWG's Food Scores
But WAIT. That's NOT ALL. There are even more toxins in Big Food Industry's bread marketing monster. Do your best, buy whole grain if you must have bread. For more info,
The expectation when entering a sanctioned store licensed to sell certified "safe" foods to the public, is that the foods available are safe to consume! Discovering this is NOT the case is unacceptable IMO. How in the hell is this allowed? My conclusion? Big Business in America. Big Business is such an incestual relationship that it continually shakes hands, leaving us on the outskirts. We aren't invited to that golf club. We aren't invited to that brunch or tea party. We aren't allowed access to their healthcare. What we are allowed is the ability to gain knowledge and make our own decisions. Food is not all FOOD, and it quickly is becoming the majority is toxic for those not economically gifted.
How much of food is on the 'middle isles'? The majority. Even the food on the perimeter is tainted with e-coli, carcinogenic pesticides, or GMO/Gamma radiated for mass-production. Learn your options. Ignorance is no longer bliss. It is a long-term and costly death sentence.
Listen, we all need to eat. Just be safe out there, grow your own when you can, go to local farmer's markets when available, and if you're urban then just know your foods.
Eat well, stay Feral.
References:
brochure_ractopamine.pdf - vet.OSU
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